US ITC ban on Qualcomm 3G chips put on hold by appeals court

Well, well, well. Look who’s finally getting some good luck. Qualcomm’s recent legal tussles with the likes of Nokia and Broadcom left us feeling  tad bit sorry for the San Diego, CA.-based chip-making giant. Now it seems Qualcomm is finally getting a break.

Judge Haldane Mayer on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a request for a stay on the US ITC import ban of Qualcomm 3G chips. If you’ll remember, several mobile phone manufacturers and wireless carriers were appealing the ITC’s decision to ban new imports of 3G-enabled phones that used chips from Qualcomm – that appeal was granted just yesterday.

Only those seven companies affected by the import-ban can resume business as usual – AT&T, T-Mobile USA Inc. and handset makers Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Corp., LG Electronics, Kyocera Wireless Corp. and Sanyo Fisher Co. – while Qualcomm itself is still banned from importing its 3G chipsets into the US.

The appeal was granted on grounds that the ban, meant to punish Qualcomm for infringing on Broadcom’s patents, unfairly and adversely affected wireless carriers and mobile phone manufacturers.

“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized the undeserved harm to parties who were not named in the lawsuit, and that our customers will continue to be able to introduce new products into the U.S. marketplace during the appeals process,” said Alex H. Rogers, Qualcomm’s senior vice president and legal counsel.

Seeing as how Qualcomm’s chipset business doesn’t rely on actually importing their own chips into the US, but rather in supplying mobile phone manufacturers with hardware, this appeal is a huge win. Qualcomm can essentially continue doing business as usual while still being “punished” by the ITC for patent infringement – you gotta love America.

[Via: Yahoo]